Tradition and Superstition
by tealitful
Summary: It was a tradition among the Gryffindors that seventh years on the quidditch team would have the people they were interested in wear their jerseys on the final match of the year for luck. Can Luke get up the nerve to ask Penelope to wear his jersey? Hogwarts AU


It was a tradition among the Gryffindors that seventh years on the quidditch team would have the people they were interested in wear their jerseys on the final match of the year for luck. Most people who participate, however, were people already in relationships.

Luke Alvez did not have that privilege. Emily Prentiss, the team captain, had mailed her jersey to some guy she had been seeing at Durmstrung, and had been thoroughly mocked (all in good nature, of course). In response, she had calmly mandated all the seventh years on the team participate in the tradition. Luke had thought she was kidding at first – everyone had – but when Matt walked across the great hall to present his jersey to his girlfriend.

With that, it became real. JJ and Luke were the only other seventh years on the team. Luke couldn't decide who abhorred the idea more: him or JJ who had been (poorly) attempting to keep her relationship with her hufflepuff boyfriend, Will, quiet. Luke thought that they would stick together, neither giving away their jerseys. As the final game drew nearer, though, JJ handed Will her jersey, publicly confirming everyone's suspicions.

Later, when their charms study group had finished congratulating the "new" couple, Emily laid down a warning. "Luke, you've only got a week to get someone to wear your jersey."

Penelope Garcia, another member of the group, laughed and Luke flinched. Normally her laugh, even directed at him, would give him some brief moment of contentment, but not then. Instead, he felt as if he had the wind knocked out of him. The one girl he wanted to give his jersey to was laughing at the idea of anyone taking his jersey, so certainly she wouldn't take it.

His displeasure must have been apparent, because Garcia rolled her eyes, fell onto the grass next to him, and said, "If you bring Roxy by the hufflepuff common room before you run off to stretch your triceps or whatever, I can try to wrestle her into your jersey."

He smiled at that. He had fought tooth and nail to get the headmistress to allow Roxy as his familiar, and everyone in school called her Luke's girl. "That's a good idea, Penelope."

"Ah-ah-ah! No!," Prentiss said, looking up from her charms essay. "Everyone else has done it. You have to, too."

Reid, a ravenclaw who had been adopted into their group by the newly graduated Derek Morgan, pulled another blanket from his bag to keep his mass of books from getting wet and unfolded it as he spoke. "But if Luke doesn't have someone he wants to give it to, then your superstition would have no grounds to work in the first place."

Emily and JJ scoffed at that, and Luke repressed a groan. How could they know? How much could they know?

Garcia looked from Luke's horrified face to Emily and JJ's amused faces and frowned. "Woah, woah, hey! Please tell me I'm not the only one being kept in the dark about some poor girl Alvez has tricked into bed? If anyone needs a touch of hufflepuff kindness, it's that girl."

She was attempting to sound composed and mocking, but her naturally kind nature betrayed her hurt at being left out of the loop – at least that the reason she gave herself for being so upset, but nobody needed to know that.

Reid, in a moment of cheekiness, said, "If he had gotten the girl, I'm sure you of all people would know."

Garcia's brows knit together in confusion for a moment at Reid's odd wording, but she decided not to ruminate on it too long. Reid had a way finding humor in things that went over most peoples heads.

Eager to change the subject before Penelope could think to much about what Reid had said, Luke redirected the conversation towards their studies. Being the newest member of the charms study group (save Matt, who was naturally better at charms than him anyways), it was easily accepted that he could use help on the more basic problem that he'd asked for help on though he'd not had trouble with it in months.

It was the day of the final game, and Luke was panicking. Although it had started as a light hearted challenge, the team had become relentless in teasing him about giving away his jersey in the past weeks. He stood outside thee hufflepuff common room, pretending to just walk by each time someone exited the portrait hole. Roxy stood beside him, exited she was going to see her buddy today. When she finally exited her common room, it was accompanied by Will, clad in JJ's jersey (enlarged with a simple engorgio).

"Off to watch the warmups?" Luke asked.

Will nodded, trying not to smile at the jersey clutched in Luke's hands, "Surprised you're not there already."

Garcia, who had fallen to her knees to pet Roxy as soon she'd seen her, looked up at the boys, "Why aren't you there, Skywalker? Get kicked off the team?"

"You said you'd get my girl into my jersey," Luke said. Will took the beginning of their banter as an opportunity to slip away.

"I thought boywonder said it didn't count if you didn't actually like her," Garcia said. "And what about Emily?"

"What about her?"

"Well, she said you had to give it to a human person."

Luke laughed. "What's she gonna do, kick me off the team? It's our last game, and she hasn't got a better chaser than me."

"Tone down the cockiness, Alvez. Just because she wont be your quidditch captain anymore doesn't mean she can't still make your life hell for the last couple weeks of school."

"Yeah, well…," he wet his dry lips with his tongue, realizing this wasn't going at all to plan. "I'll take my chances."

He handed the jersey to her before ordering Roxy to stick with Penelope. Roxy wagged her tail and barked a response.

As Luke walked away, Penelope looked from the jersey to Roxy. "You aren't going to cooperate, are ya girl?"

Roxy barked in confirmation.

When there were only thirty minutes left before the start of the game, Penelope decided to seek out reinforcements. She found Reid with his nose in a book on a bench by the great lake, and plopped down beside him. Roxy ran circles around their bench while they talked.

"Hey there, Sherlock, I need some wisdom."

Reid pulled his attention away from the book, and he looked at her, immediately noting the jersey now slung over her shoulder. "Luke actually managed to ask you to wear his jersey? I owe Matt two galleons. I thought he wouldn't get the nerve to confess until graduation, at the earliest."

Garcia's eyebrows shot up and under her fringe. She opened her mouth to deny what he'd say, but only unintelligible sounds came out.

Reid's face immediately shifted to one of a naughty child who'd said something he shouldn't have. "He didn't? But you have his jersey!"

"To put it on Roxy! I came here to get some idea from your genius brain on how to get a squirmy dog into a jersey meant for a person!"

Reid started shoving his book into his bag, slinging the strap over his shoulder as he did so. "Forget I said anything. I have to go. Engorgio the jersey and reducio it once it's around her so you can get it just the right size. Then you just have to pull her front legs through. See you at the game!"

Garcia watched him scurry away from her. Did Spencer Probably-Never-Been-Wrong-In-His-Life Reid just imply that Luke Too-Handsome-For-His-Own-Good Alvez on her, Penelope Goddess-Of-Research-And-Fun Garcia?

Ridiculous.

Insane.

Was it, though?

She was pretty great, if she did say so herself, but she had never been the most welcoming to Luke. Still, he had always been nice to her. When they had class together, he would sit by her, and he would bring her tea just the way she liked it just when she needed it. She was the only one he trusted to watch Roxy, and he got her cute knick-knacks he thought she would like even though everyone else thought her love of them were silly.

Roxy walked over to Penelope and sat in front of her, waiting for her to try shoving her into her owner's jersey again.

Penelope sighed and shook her head, "No, girl, you don't have to wear it. I haven't got time to wrestle you into."

When Penelope climbed into the gryffindor stands to find her gang of fellow non-gryffindor gryffindor supporters, her heart was ready to beat straight out of her chest. Roxy trotted over to where Will and Spencer sat, laying down in front of them. Penelope sat down next to them, her chin lifted and her face falsely nonchalant.

Will grinned at Garcia but chose (wisely so) not to say anything about the gryffindor jersey she was sporting. Rather than talk, Will pulled out a bottle of butter beer from his bag and offered it to her. Spencer, deciding he had already said too much to Garcia today, also chose to keep his mouth shut.

The rest of the gryffindor stands was in a quiet uproar. Penelope couldn't help but blush when a couple of boys a few rows behind her called her Mrs. Alvez as a joke. She wished the names of the players weren't so visible across backs of the jerseys.

When the teams were announced, however, Penelope Garcia was quite forgotten. Everyone jumped to their feet to get a better look. First, the ravenclaw team flew into the air, taking the customary lap around the pitch before stopping in front of the ravencalw stands. The gryffindor stands were eerily silent without the usual heckling: they were saving their voices to cheer for their team.

As soon as the gryffindor team walked onto the pitch, the gryffindor stands were rattling with cheers and excitement. The team mounted their brooms and pushed off the ground, starting the same customary lap. When they stopped in front of gryffindor stands, Luke Alvez looked directly at Penelope Garcia, and it took everything in her not to look away.

Luke's mouth was slightly agape as he looked at her in his bright red jersey. Her cheeks were well on the way to become the same shade. Her eyes, however, were clearly telling him that if he commented on it he would regret it. He let his gaze linger on her until Prentiss, amusement in her voice, invited him to join the team huddle.

JJ caught the snitch and the final game was over. Luke could hear his blood rushing through his body. His final game at Hogwarts… and Penelope was waiting for him by the Black Lake to return Roxy to him, like she always did.

He had been going over what to say to her in his head since he'd seen her in his jersey, but when he was a few feet away from her and saw his name emblazoned on her back, his words died in his throat. When she turned and spotted him, he acted without thinking for once. He closed the gap between them and pulled her face to his.

When they separated, Luke kept his hands securely on her cheeks, letting his rough thumbs rub her temples. His eyes darted across her face, slowly realizing that this was really happening.

"Well, normally you just buy me a chocolate frog for watching Roxy," Garcia said after clearing her throat awkwardly.

"Would you prefer a chocolate frog?"

"Well, I wouldn't say no to one."

Luke let his hands slip from her face and took a step back. "I don't have any with me."

Penelope stepped forward, closing the distance again. "Then I suppose this will have to do."


End file.
